Ten good moves by Angels GM Reagins

June 14, 2011

Updated Aug. 21, 2013 1:17 p.m.

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No. 10: Trading for Alberto Callaspo. Mystifying at the time -- the Angels weren't going anywhere, Callaspo was bad -- but Reagins has been vindicated by the results. By Wins Above Replacement, Callaspo was the fourth-best third baseman in baseball this year, just a shade behind Adrian Beltre, and he led the Angels in on-base percentage. Trading for him made a lot more sense given the weak collection of free agent third basemen last season. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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No. 9: Finding Matt Palmer on the scrap heap. Matt Palmer was 30 years old. His career ERA was 8.53 in 12 innings, with three strikeouts and 13 walks. Somehow, the Angels ended up depending on him in 2009 and he went 11-2 with a 3.93 ERA. Yes, his record and ERA have a lot of luck embedded in them -- like, a TON of luck -- but he went 11-2 with a 3.93 ERA. Don't be a jerk. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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No. 8: Letting Chone Figgins go. Actually, in addition to Lackey and Figgins, you could say Reagins has never let a free agent go who he came to regret. Francisco Rodriguez has been good for the Mets, but not so good that you'd want to throw $12 million a year at him. Vladimir Guerrero hit a ton of RBIs for the Rangers, but Hideki Matsui was essentially as good, for less.I guess you'd say Teixeira would be nice right now, but only because of Morales' fluke injury. So, yeah. Letting free agents go without much fight. Good job Reagins. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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No. 7: Signing Maicer Izturis to an extension. Bought out two years of Izturis' free agency for a total of $7 million. Izturis was "worth" more than that in the first half of 2011 alone, and his 3.3 Wins Above Replacement made him baseball's best utility player this year. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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No. 6: Let John Lackey walk. There are times where we congratulate a GM on letting a player walk, when really he offered a massive contract and was only outbid by a few million. But the Angels low-balled Lackey in a way that suggests they really weren't all that interested in having him back, maybe because he's awful at baseball. This is the fourth year in a row that Lackey's ERA has gone up. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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No. 4: Signed Bobby Abreu before 2009. For $5 million, the Angels got a .390 on-base percentage. Bobby Abreu could have sat indian style in the outfield the rest of the time and still been a good deal. (The three-year, $27 extension Reagins signed him to after that season is a different story, though not necessary a bad story -- just one we can't assess yet.) AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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No. 3: Trading Casey Kotchman for Mark Teixeira, 2008. Mark Teixeira hit 13 home runs in 54 games for the Angels that summer. Casey Kotchman has hit 20 home runs in the entire time since then. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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2. The 2009 draft. Reagins and his team had five picks in the first round. If he'd taken Mike Trout and four cute kittens in boxes, it would have been the most successful Angels draft in a decade. But the Angels also got a good prospect in Garrett Richards and a very good one in Tyler Skaggs, who was a key to the Dan Haren trade which has suspiciously not appeared on this list yet... AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

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No. 1: Trades Joe Saunders, prospects for Dan Haren and his spectacularly team-friendly contract. Once a week, Tony Reagins calls the Diamondbacks. He asks to talk to the General Manager, Jerry Dipoto. "Jerry's gone," they tell him. "He was only an interim." Tony asks if they know where he is now? Tony says he's got some more stuff he wants to trade him. "Sorry, Tony. Jerry's not a GM anymore. Maybe you can talk to some other GMs?" Tony gets sad. AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

No. 10: Trading for Alberto Callaspo. Mystifying at the time -- the Angels weren't going anywhere, Callaspo was bad -- but Reagins has been vindicated by the results. By Wins Above Replacement, Callaspo was the fourth-best third baseman in baseball this year, just a shade behind Adrian Beltre, and he led the Angels in on-base percentage. Trading for him made a lot more sense given the weak collection of free agent third basemen last season.AP PHOTO. TEXT BY SAM MILLER, OCR

Tony Reagins resigned as Angels' General Manager, a move that surely reflects his lowest moments: Trading for Vernon Wells and Scott Kazmir, noticeably. Was Reagins good or bad at his job? Obviously, we don't know nearly all of the dynamics of the Angels front office, so any assessment will be incredibly limited. Click through the photos to see 10 times the Angels' GM looked smart.

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